все пишут отзывы о новом романе Глуховского "Регистрация". блин, ребята, как же вам нечего читать! он у меня в очереди на чтение пятый! дойдут до него руки, но не скоро
This is what one of the wheels of the Curiosity rover looks like at the moment after 13 years, 11 months, and 20 days. Zero tire changes.
That's how long Curiosity has been grinding across Mars on the same six wheels it landed with back in August 2012.
And they look exactly like you'd expect.
Gaping holes. Torn treads. Chunks of aluminium just gone, ripped away by rock after rock after rock. This isn't neglect, by the way. There's no garage on Mars. Whatever hardware you launch with is the hardware you die with.
Here's the part that gets me: engineers knew the wheels were shredding as early as 2013, barely a year in. So they started driving the rover backwards over rough patches, mapping gentler routes, rationing every metre of terrain. A billion-dollar robot, babied across a planet like a car limping to the mechanic that doesn't exist.
Nearly 14 years later, it's still moving. Still drilling. Still sending photos home, including this one of its own battered wheel.
Your car needs new tyres every few years on paved roads. This thing has been off-roading on another planet since before most phones had fingerprint sensors.
The wheel in this photo is broken. The rover isn't.